Monthly Archives: July 2015

Ta Da! My second commission completed.
Delighted to have completed my second commission. After the first one I didn’t know whether I could create something so specific and personal to an individual again. The second commission was very different from the first as it is for a football fan to display in a technology company office. As I love colour I was concerned that I might make the artwork too girly, or be unable to have enough colour to like the piece myself. I started working up from the bottom of the canvas board. I chose the same size as the previous commission.

Canvas board ready to receive what was to emerge

The picture is for a keen fan of Barnsley Football Club in South Yorkshire. The commissioner has a strong sense of local identity and is proud of where he hails from. I started with the team’s main colour, red, and created a near side stadium crowd which I later added kit detail from recent seasons and the energy of celebrating goals.
Barnsley was a city built on coal mining and coal runs at the core of the society and community so I ran a coal seam through the picture with miners’ lights to add a respectful acknowledgment to those people who worked hard in challenging conditions. The commissioner’s ancestors mined so this was also to be poignant in that way. The coal seam is surrounded with turf and accented with a strip of fluorescent for the match marshalled and in recognition of the hi-vis, health and safety keen time that we live in.

Starting to get a feel for thr oiece and loving the colours as the miners hammer away at the coal face

I added the further stand using the past and present kit designs to add colour and give texture.
To celebrate the city I added the skyline including the iconic and impressive town hall building and also the hospital where the commissioner worked for some years.
As the piece is for a work environment the ‘Goal’ element of the picture has two meanings, both to evoke memories of great match moments and to signify achievement/ objectives taken to fruition. I painted two footballs, a little idealistic element to emphasise the energy and jubilation of the moment.
I painted the goal posts and then wrote key words and sentiments as the goal netting, alternating between words in English and in Latin. The logo for the club was the inspiration for the net and I have been wanting to learn Latin and now I know some. Some of the words are Family (Familia), Breathe (Spirant) and Achieve (Consequi).

The words in English and Latin supportive sentiments to help motivate. What would you want your commission to be?

It was important to me that the piece was positively motivating so where the advertising hoardings would be at a football ground I created a collaged words to help inspire.

I added some personal elements that others would not understand and have now called it finished. I can’t wait to see his reaction and see it in position in his office.

Second commission on target!. if you would like a commisdioned artwork you can email me at inspirebykim@outlook.comDelighted with how my second commission emergedMy first two commissions and my bespoke cushion in my studio.

If you enjoyed this post please feel free to read about the many varied art challenges completed to date and click FOLLOW to see future posts.

My good friend commissioned me to create a painting for her for real money! She explained what she wanted the fundamental message of the artwork to be and it started to form in my mind over a few days. I asked some questions about the brief and when she told me how she envisaged it lots of different coloured bubbles rising from left low to high high with lots of vibrancy and energy, her view was very much what I had seen in my mind’s eye.

I considered whether to take an academic approach to the artwork, studying bubbles (the key element) their structure and working on sketches and preliminary drawings and practising, or taking a new canvas board and diving in to build the artwork and making it develop on the board, seeking information and researching as I went. This approach is partly thanks to the influence of the Mixed Media Art learning from Kelly-Rae Roberts. The techniques I have used in my Mantra Artworks came into use.

My friend mentioned a dancer in the brief, I drew figures in movement in my Art of Skating and Knee Injury Drawing Art Challenges. I wanted the figure to demonstrate joy in her pose, and having studied danced the pose also had to be technically correct.

The Art of Skating. Copyright Kim 2014

Here are some images made into a movie to show how the artwork took shape and developed.

I really enjoyed working to the brief and creating for a good friend, I worked her energy, essence and my knowledge of her into the piece and found that I also had to add my joy, in terms of the colours, energy and some glitter, for the piece to be truly joyful. It was tricky to know when to stop, I worked on the piece over a two week period, sometimes for 4 hours, some times two minutes. I liked being able to go to the piece as ideas came to mind, whenever that was.

In my studio enjoying the buzz of my first commissioned artwork.

My friend entitled the piece Rainbow Dancer. The painting is in transit to her at present in the Middle East and she’s also ordered a number of day to day items featuring my artwork so she can have it with her wherever she goes. I have put artworks on useful items on Zazzle, I like the idea of art brightening up everyday items and activities. Here’s a link to my Zazzle shop.

A scan of the final piece, it doesn’t do it true justice but gives an impression of the piece.

P.S. I scanned the sections of the picture in the hope of stitching it together, something I hadn’t done before and wasn’t sure how I would. It came to me that I could place the four scans at the extremities of a layer and then overlap and smooth the joins. That feels like a breakthrough skill for my armoury, I can create larger artworks now, knowing I can digitise and reproduce them.

Hopefully this commission will be the first of a number. I’m open to discussing briefs, if you would like a bespoke artwork please contact me.

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As the warmer weather drew me outside our garden replaced our lounge as my knee rehabilitation and rest space. I love our garden as its a safe space away from the bustle and busyness. A private haven for relaxing, time with loved ones or nurturing and growing beautiful flowers.

The spring tulips, my favourites, had done their blooming and so the garden was ripe for some additional decoration, as part of my development as an artist I wanted to branch out beyond our own walls and extend my art into our garden space.

I have wanted an ‘In the garden’ sign for some time as gives a hint of the magic of the garden behind the house and for me conjures an image of someone happily wiling away the hours tending to plants, helping them to climb, grow and be their best and most beautiful . As I had been bought a Welsh slate sign that was perfect. I used acrylics to build a picture and am hoping that Yacht varnish will protect the paint from the weather. I’m happy with the picture and the atmosphere it creates when hung at the front of the house. It’s a pretty way to ensure we don’t miss deliveries and to save friends and relatives waiting and knocking when we wont hear them.

I then used the sign as a basis of a mantra artwork, adding extra images of flowers from our garden and a picture of the first little birdhouse. I added text in my current favourite photo app Phonto. I love evolving pieces of my art, giving them extra wings to reach hearts and minds. Having planted the seeds, tended and nurtured them into flowers there is a lot of my joy in this artwork.

I added solar LED lights into the climbing plants, they are ideal as no wiring, energy or remembering to switch on and off required, some lanterns I had won in a raffle and some artworks from a local shop that was closing down – an ice cream VW camper van for me and a Mini Cooper for my husband.

I love adding colour to the garden when it’s time to wash our pinks and reds – my favourite wash day.

I added the birdhouse that I had painted – see Art Challenge 31 and painted three smaller bird houses to hang and add interest to hang by the roses. I painted a convex mirror that I found at a reclaimed shop in St Annes On Sea, so that it could reflect the beauty of our garden. We added extra plants and an Indian lantern that caught my eye at TK Maxx and painted a terracotta pot with acrylics.

It’s not so sunny in the garden just now but it’s lovely to sit and write in the open air in our lovely garden.

Possible future additions…

I may add a name to the shed in the beach hut style and maybe accent the structure of the shed for effect but for now I’m satisfied that the garden now feels more arty, personal and intriguing.

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I’m loving creating the mantra art using my artworks and photography. I enjoy blending images and adding a message using apps on my iPhone. I share them on my Facebook page which can be joined at this link – Inspire by Kim Here are latest creations. Pop back soon to see more. Enjoy the meantime. 😊

I had a kitchen surface protector created using on of my earlier mantra art works, it’s a bright, bold addition to our kitchen.

Please stay at my blog a while and enjoy the many colourful Art Challenge posts. My aim is to inspire through my art so if you are inspired please let me know or share my art do that it can inspire others to enjoy life and help uplift them when times are hard.